Ricky Gervais will host The 68th Annual Golden Globe Awards

“I can’t believe they invited me back after awful things I said,” said Gervais. “Let’s see how far I can go this time.”

“As viewers discovered with our last awards telecast, Ricky’s surprising and unpredictable humor is a great fit for the Globes which will continue as a live event across the nation,” said Paul Telegdy, Executive Vice President, Alternative Programming, NBC and Universal Media Studios. “He’s a true force of nature with a wicked sense of humor who always keeps everyone on their toes waiting for the unexpected.”

“We are thrilled to have Ricky back as the host of the Golden Globe Awards,” said HFPA President, Philip Berk. “His combination of wit, irreverence, and spontaneity makes him the ideal host. He was fantastic last year, and he’ll be even better the second time around.”

The 68th Annual Golden Globe Awards will air on Sunday, January 16, 2011 on NBC. Click over the jump to read the complete press release.

GOLDEN GLOBE AND EMMY AWARD WINNER RICKY GERVAIS SET FOR ENCORE PERFORMANCE AS HOST OF NBC’S LIVE BROADCAST OF ‘THE 68TH ANNUAL GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS’ ON SUNDAY, JANUARY 16, 2011

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif. – April 28, 2010 — Multi-talented Golden Globe and Emmy Award winner Ricky Gervais (“The Invention of Lying,” “The Office”) has signed for an encore performance when he returns to host “The 68th Annual Golden Globe Awards” on Sunday, January 16, 2011 on NBC. This year’s show will again be broadcast live coast-to-coast from 5-8 p.m. (PT) and 8-11 p.m. (ET) from the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills.

“I can’t believe they invited me back after awful things I said,” said Gervais. “Let’s see how far I can go this time.”

“As viewers discovered with our last awards telecast, Ricky’s surprising and unpredictable humor is a great fit for the Globes which will continue as a live event across the nation,” said Paul Telegdy, Executive Vice President, Alternative Programming, NBC and Universal Media Studios. “He’s a true force of nature with a wicked sense of humor who always keeps everyone on their toes waiting for the unexpected.”

“We are thrilled to have Ricky back as the host of the Golden Globe Awards,” said HFPA President, Philip Berk. “His combination of wit, irreverence, and spontaneity makes him the ideal host. He was fantastic last year, and he’ll be even better the second time around.”

The Sunday, January 17 telecast of “The Golden Globes” delivered NBC’s highest adult 18-49 rating in the time period, excluding sports, in five years (since the 2005 Golden Globe Awards telecast, which averaged a 5.7 rating in 18-49 on January 16, 2005) and attracted NBC’s largest non-sports viewership in the time period in six years (since the 2004 Golden Globe Awards telecast, which averaged 26.8 million viewers on January 25, 2004). “The 67th Annual Golden Globe Awards” (5.5/14 in 18-49, 17.0 million viewers overall) scored gains versus the prior year’s telecast of 12 percent in adults 18-49 (5.4 vs. 4.9) and 14 percent or 2.1 million persons in total viewers (17.0 million vs. 14.9 million).

Gervais is probably best known for his role as David Brent on the BBC version of “The Office.” Gervais also produced, wrote (with Stephen Merchant) and directed on the mock documentary series from 2001-03. Twelve episodes and a two-part Christmas special later, “The Office” is consigned to broadcasting history as one of the most perfectly crafted comedy series in British TV history. The show was showered with awards and critical acclaim and Gervais became a household name. Gervais and Merchant teamed up again in 2005 to create the award-winning series “Extras” in which he played an aspiring actor.

Gervais also executive-produces the Emmy Award-winning American version of “The Office” with Greg Daniels, Ben Silverman, Stephen Merchant, Howard Klein and Paul Lieberstein. The NBC version of “The Office” is the most successful US remake of a show and recently went into syndication.

Over a 10-year period Gervais has become one of the most influential British comedians of all time. He is an award winning standup and his tour “FAME” became the fastest selling UK standup show in history. “FAME” also received three Emmy nominations.

In 2009 Gervais wrote, directed and starred in the feature film “The Invention of Lying” alongside Jennifer Garner, Jonah Hill, Louis C.K., Rob Lowe and Tina Fey (NBC’s “30 Rock”). This year “Cemetery Junction” – Gervais’ second film as writer and director and his first film co-written and directed with Stephen Merchant, was released in the UK on April 14. An animated feature film of his award winning children’s book “Flanimals” is currently in development.

Gevais currently holds the title of the most downloaded internet show of all time with “The Ricky Gervais show. Last year, HBO made the podcast into a 13 part animated series and has been commissioned for a second season.

“The 68th Annual Golden Globe Awards” will be seen in more than 160 countries worldwide and is one of the few awards ceremonies that span both television and motion picture achievements. The special will be produced by dick clark productions in association with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

Philip Berk is President of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Orly Adelson, president of dick clark productions and Barry Adelman will executive-produce the special. Bob Bardo is the executive in charge of production.